A Blog Birthday Giveaway!

Two years ago today I started Petticoats & Peplums!  I had been blogging for a couple of years before that over at Kat's Creations but I felt I had outgrown that space.  I decided to start a fresh blog to help me to grow a bit in my blogging.  Looking back I feel like I have grown a lot since I started this blog.  I am really happy with where I am now!  But in saying that there is always room for improvement so I look forward to seeing how I can grow this blog over the next year.  Now none of this would have been possible without you my lovely readers so I wanted to do a little giveaway to thank you.  I have four patterns to give away so there will be for lucky winners!

Pattern One

Simplicity 2863

Size M-XL

Uncut

Pattern Two

Burda 7695

Size 34-44"

Uncut

Pattern Three

Vintage Simplicity 7967

Size 14 (36")

Pattern Four

Spotlight Get Creative Kaftan Top

Size 8-16

Uncut

Now to enter it is super duper simple:-

1 - Leave me a comment below letting me know your order of preference for the patterns.  The first name drawn will get their first preference, the second name will get there first preference if it is still available.  If not they will get their second preference etc etc.
2 - Don't forget to leave your email address so I can contact you once the giveaway is drawn.
3 - Sit back and cross your fingers!

I will be drawing the giveaway next Tuesday, 7th May.  Good luck!

52 Weeks Happy (17/52)

This past week has been a busy one so I have a few happy moments to share with you today!

The best part of this past week was that I started Kids Clothes Week and I finally got around to making Imogen some clothes.  I only ended up making 5 of the 7 planned outfits but hopefully the other two in the next couple of weeks.  All the outfits I made for Imogen came from stash material and notions so were completely free.  I am really happy with how they all turned out.  Sewing kids clothes is so fast as well so next time I was an instant gratification project Imogen will be getting more clothes!  To see full posts on everything I made go here.

1 - Imogen was playing in my sewing room while I finished up one of her dresses and discovered my petticoat.  I think we have a little vintage diva in the making!

2 - This week I have been trying to make some of the 129 recipes I have pinned in my cooking board.  This week I made chicken taco chilli, thai chickpea burgers and vegan banana apple chunk bread.

3 - I finally found a bit of time to read this week.  I started this book that my niece lent me back in February but only read 10 pages then put it down.  This week I managed to squeeze in a little reading time.  It's not the most intellectual read but it is entertaining!

4 - Corey had a 4 day weekend last week so we enjoyed spending lots of time with daddy.  It did make Monday seem exceptionally lonely though when he went back to work.

5 - Anzac Day was a gorgeous sunny day on the Gold Coast so Imogen & I headed down to the beach for lunch with my parents.  It was a lovely day!

So what has been making you smile this week?

Baking Without Sugar

Yes folks, you read right. I have been baking without sugar.  Without going on too long my dad read the book Sweet Poison a couple of years ago and decided to cut out sugar and managed to lose a heap of weight. Like over 30kgs.  So after having Imogen I started a similar diet to help me lose the baby weight.  It worked well but I am not coping well with the no sugar thing.  I love sugar!  Well actually the problem is I love cake and cake has sugar in it so I have been trying to find recipes to make that use healthy sugar alternatives.  I have been using stevia in my tea and was going to bake with it but last week I saw the Sweet Poison author on Sunrise who said the best alternative for sugar in baking is dextrose.  Apparently dextrose is the healthy part of sugar and gets burned off quickly rather than being turned into fat.  So when I found this recipe I decided to give it a go with the dextrose.

You can find the recipe by simple following this link.  It calls for sucanat or sugar.  I used dextrose which is slightly less sweet than sugar so I used a bit more than was called for.  If you were to use stevia you would use less than is called for as it is quite sweet.  You could probably also use honey in place of the sugar and just use the same amount.  I also used oat flour instead of whole wheat flour.  This is super easy to make by just blitzing some rolled oats in the food processor.

So have any of you every baked anything without sugar?  Do you have any healthy dessert recipes that you can share with me?

KCW Day 7

So the final day is here and I managed to squeeze out one more dress for Imogen. Yay!  This time I used this tutorial over at Schwin & Schwin.  it is a pretty simple dress pattern so all I had to do was make it a little smaller to fit my little monkey.  I started with my larger squares being 15"x14" and my sleeve rectangles being 10"x6.5".  I used 3 strips of shirring on the neck and 4 strips on the waist.


The great thing about this pattern is that it will fit for a while given the elastic.  For the minute it is a tunic but as she grows it will become a top.  I am pretty happy with how much I have managed to get done this week.  Everything has been made out of stash material so has basically been free.  I still have 2 items that I planned to make that didn't get done but I am hoping to still make them.  First though I need to make something for myself to wear to a wedding in Me Made May.

KCW Day 6

So I started out strong with 3 finished items in 3 days for Kid's Clothes Week.  The came day 4 & day 5 which were total fails!  As all my aussie readers know day 4 was Anzac Day so we were out with my family all day.  We didn't get home till late so no sewing happened at all!  Friday Corey had the day off work so we were again out of the house all day resulting in zero sewing.  I jumped back into it yesterday though with a finished dress...then forgot to photograph it!  But I snagged a couple of photos this morning and here is my efforts for day 6.


For this dress I again used the Perennial Dress pattern as a base.  Seriously people, if you have a little girl to sew for you need to download this pattern.  It is such a simple base and perfect for customising.  And it's free!


This time I made it in a lemon print fabric which you will remember from my lemon skirt I made myself.  I added a white bib to the front with lace and some adorable heart buttons.  Super simple and super cute!  For the back button I decided to use a green button for a bit of fun.  So that's day 6.  Hopefully day 7 will result in a finished garment.  Fingers crossed!

KCW Day 3

Todays Kids Clothes Week creation is a basic pinafore dress.  This was super duper quick to make!  It is basically 4 rectangles sewn together so it's not the most technical dress in the world.


The fabric is from the stash.  I made myself a skirt from it a long time ago but it has since vacated my wardrobe.  Everything I am making for Imogen this week has come out of stash fabric so she is getting a bunch of new clothes for nothing.  Winning!  Now that I have a little one I see mini garments in every lot of left over fabric I have.  Although if we start to turn into that scary matching family feel free to slap me!


Now this is super duper simple to make if you would like to make one! I didn't take photos so no tutorial but basically the top band was Imogen's chest circumference plus 2cm for seam allowances and 6cm for the overlap & to create the keyhole.  I made it 12cm wide and folded it in half and after the seam allowances it ended up 5cm wide.  The skirt part was double her chest circumference and I gathered it into the top band.  The straps I just winged from a piece of scrap fabric so I am not sure of their exact width but I think they are around 5cm.  If anyone is interested in a more detailed tutorial of how I put it together let me know!

52 Weeks Happy (16/52)

1 - Happy Mail! I was lucky enough to "adopt" these patterns over on twitter a little while ago. I totally forgot about them so when they arrived this week it was a lovely surprise.

2 - I tried out a new knitting technique and made myself a super cute and warm hat for this winter.  I love learning new knitting techniques!  The navaho method has opened up millions of ideas for me!

3 - Onesie pyjamas rule! I was so happy to be able to crack out my onesie this week.  I bought it while I was pregnant and this is the first chance I have had to wear it. It is so warm for winter!

4 - I discovered a delicious new combination this week. I had porridge with honey & goji berries for lunch one day and it was amazing!  I had it again the next day and added some grated green apple. Yum!

5 - On the weekend we headed out to a local kustom kraft market and my mum bought me fairy floss. I love fairy floss and it's even tastier when your mum buys it for you!

6 - I finally got around to finishing my Mad Men Dress and I am so happy with how it turned out.  How can this colour not make you happy!

7 - Pinterest win! I tried out one of the recipes on my cooking board and it was a massive success.  I realised I had pinned 129 recipes and only made 20 so I am aiming to start making at least one a week from now on.

8 & 9 - Sewing for Imogen makes me happy!  It is so quick and satisfying.  This week is Kids Clothes Week and there will be lot more sewing for Imogen to come.

KCW Day 2

Today I made Imogen a super simple a-line dress using the leftover material from my Mad Men Dress.  I used the same pattern as I used to make her sewing dare dress but left off the pockets and the frill sleeves.  I drafted a simple collar and added some small white love heart buttons.  I really love the slightly 60s feel of this dress.

Imogen is not feeling the happiest today so I let her off a day of modelling.  I can't wait to dress her in this though.  I think it will look super cute!  I think she needs a little white bow headband to go with it.

So I have figured out the one thing I don't like about sewing kids clothes. Teeny tiny little armholes! They are a right pain in the butt.  Even with using my free arm these are too tiny to sew comfortably.  But I managed to get them done relatively neatly so I am happy with that.  But I think tomorrow I might take a break from sewing arm holes!

KCW Day 1

Yay! Kid's Clothes Week is here.  I have been a bit of a slack sewing mum and the only thing I have made for Imogen is my sewing dare dress.  That's pretty bad considering she is 6 months old already!  So when I saw Kid's Clothes Week was coming up I started planning and this week is all about sewing for Imogen.  Hopefully at the end of the week she will have 7 new mummy made outfits in her wardrobe.


For day one I have made her a super cute little romper.  I used this tutorial and some japanese cotton lawn from Spotlight.  I picked this lawn up on sale for $8 a metre and this romper only used about half of it.  So this romper only cost me $4!  What a bargain!!!  It was also super fast to make.  It only took me an hour of sewing time to pull it together.  I love how fast kid's clothes are to make. They are the ultimate instant gratification project.


In the spirit of full disclosure I did make a bit of a boo boo with this romper.  You see I forgot to add seam allowances in before I cut the pattern pieces.  So while it does fit it isn't going to fit for long and it also isn't as baggy and it's meant to be.  But that is ok because it is a learning experience! I am hoping to make a few more of these for Imogen for winter.  Since it is still warm in our neck of the woods I made this one into shorts but I think a few in a longer length and warmer material will be perfect for winter.  Hopefully tomorrows sewing efforts turn out just as cute!

Mad Men Dress Challenge

I was so excited this year to be able to take part in Julia Bobbin's Mad Men Dress Challenge.  Last year I wanted to take part but being pregnant killed my sewing mojo!  So this year as soon as I heard the challenge had come out I started planning.  Originally I was going to make a different dress but I left it too late to start and then didn't have the pattern I thought I had so I changed my idea.

I wanted to recreate the green pencil dress that Joan is wearing in this picture.  According to Mr Google this is from Season 5.  I say this because, wait for it, I have never watched Mad Men!  Yes, that's right. I have never seen a single episode.  We don't have foxtel so I never started watching.  I've always wanted to get the DVD's to watch it but have never gotten around to it.  I really need to do something about that soon!

So this dress became a mash up of two patterns.  The bodice and sleeves (which I lengthened) come from vintage Simplicity 4650 and the skirt comes from McCall's 5971.  I had to do a little tweaking to get the skirt and bodice to match but apart from that they came together quite smoothly.  On a side note I totally am going to make the vintage pattern again exactly like the green version on the envelope. Super cute!


And this is my final dress!  I am pretty happy with how it turned out.  It is going to be perfect when I go back to work.  I feel like it makes my shoulders seem a little wide though.  But apart from that I love the fit and especially the colour.  I used a cotton sateen that I picked up from Spotlight.  In hindsight it probably isn't the best fabric to use because the sheen shows up every crease.  Next time I make a wiggle dress I will use something different.

I had so much fun taking part in this challenge so a big thank you to Julia Bobbin for holding it again.  I already have ideas for some other Mad Men inspired looks to make.  Hopefully Julia runs this challenge again next year because it's a lot of fun seeing what everyone in the blogosphere makes.  Maybe next year I will do something a bit more Betty.  But for now I am headed into Kid's Clothes Week so the next week will be all about sewing for Imogen!

Sewing Books For Sale

This morning I was thinking to myself that I need to clear out my sewing books. I have so many sewing books that I buy and then never use so I thought surely there is someone out there that would like to use these.  So I have done a bit of organising and pulled out some books to sell.  I am going to pop them up here for anyone that may want them for a couple of weeks and then whatever doesn't sell I am going to move over to Fishpond.

Sew U by Wendy Mullin

As New Condition

$15 + postage

Sew U Home Stretch by Wendy Mullin

As New Condition

$15 + postage

In Stitches by Amy Butler - SOLD!

As New Condition

$15 + postage

Last Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson - SOLD!

Small tear in cover in spine

$10 + postage 

Sew Liberated by Meg McElwee

As New Condition

$10 + postage

Design-It-Yourself Clothes by Cal Patch

As New Condition

$15 + postage

If you are interested in any of these books please email me on ksultanie(at)yahoo(dot)com and we can discuss postage costs.  I am also happy to arrange pick up if you are in the Gold Coast or Brisbane area.

Navaho Hat

Over the past couple of weeks I had seen the lovely Casey from Plus Three Crochet make mention of the navaho knitting & crochet method on instagram.  I had never heard of it before so I was intrigued.  When Casey shared this video link on her blog I knew I had to give it a try.  I always find that when I am trying to find fast projects to use up my yarn stash they require bulky or super bulky yarn.  This is always an issue for me because most of my stash is 8 ply.  Using this method I was able to turn 8 ply yarn into super bulky yarn to make a quick and easy beanie for winter.

I found this pattern for a simple garter stitch beanie that seemed like the perfect way to try out a new knitting method.  I am really happy with how it turned out!  The only difference with using the navaho method is that the yarn isn't as soft and drapey as normal super bulky yarn would be.  Therefore the hat is a bit more stiff than it would be had I used super bulky yarn.  I don't mind though.  I think it still works well for this hat.  However, you probably wouldn't want to use this method for say a jumper.  I think it would be perfect for making a puff daddy ottoman.

I can definitely say that I will be using this method again.  I have a lot of yarn in my stash that needs to be used up and this has opened up a whole range of new opportunities.  But before I go can we all take a moment to check out the awesomeness of this giant pom pom.

Seriously, what is better than a giant pom pom!  This has got to be my favourite part of the hat.  I think I will be putting giant pom poms on everything now. I've been bitten by the pom pom bug!